Prior to my MBA study, I was a teaching and research assistant in Cairo university’s computer engineering department. I was also working as a software engineer in a company called Inmobly. As soon as I finished my computer engineering master’s degree, I applied for an MBA in the university of Liverpool.
Why did you choose to study an MBA?
As a software engineer, my short-term career goal was to be a project manager in a prestigious company within the IT industry. This would help me then fulfil my long-term career goal, which was to start my own business. I knew an MBA would help me achieve both my short-term and long-term career goals by providing me with the right skills, practical managerial and entrepreneurial experience that I was seeking.
What skills and knowledge do you feel you developed?
I have developed a huge set of skills during my MBA. First, I learned more about different leadership and management practices that were relevant to the goals I wanted to achieve after my studies. I was also able to develop and practically apply different soft skills like communication skills, presentation skills and become an effective team player within groups. The diverse cohort was beneficial in that respect and provided some great opportunities of interacting, socializing and working with great individual from different backgrounds. As for knowledge, I was able to gain even more than I was expecting. The business side of things was completely new to me and learning and applying different strategic and entrepreneurial practices helped me put my engineering knowledge into context and understand how to compete as an entrepreneur in a dynamic industry.
Have you made use of the MBA alumni network?
One of the best things that happened to me was attending different alumni events and getting in touch with several active members. I was able to fast track my career and start my entrepreneurial business right after graduation due to effective networking. I was able to develop a solid business case with the help of great individual and my first huge client came through one of the university’s alumni members.
Did you make use of the careers support available?
The career support helped me a lot building my network of contacts, that had a huge influence on the success of my start up afterwards. I was also lucky to know Fiona McNamara and Elaine Eades, who both helped in finding the right company (through their networks) for my work-based project. This project was the spark that I needed for my career because I was able to apply my ideas in a massive company to translate them afterwards into my entrepreneurial business that I am currently running.
What aspects of the programme did you most enjoy/find most useful?
I enjoyed every aspect of the MBA regarding the modules, the knowledge I gained, the people I met and the skills I acquired. Two things specifically were the simulation module and the work-based project. The simulation module helped us apply the knowledge we gained from different courses into a simulated environment. We all enjoyed this module as it gave us a holistic view about the strategic decisions and how competitive the market can be in a friendly yet competitive simulation against different groups. The work-based project was very helpful as well, from a practical perspective, as I got to apply what I learned in the real world with a company.
Where are you working now, what is your job title and what does your role entail?
I am currently the Director of a start-up business called Droovy. The company is a gamification consultancy business that I started right after finishing my MBA.
Do you feel the MBA has helped your career progression?
Without a doubt. Not only this, but the MBA helped me fast track my career and directly achieve my long-term career goals right after my studies.
I use everything I learned in my current role including managerial skills, strategic skills, entrepreneurial skills and all the soft skills as well. Since I am running a company, all the knowledge I gained during my MBA became relevant to me to be able to start and run a successful business within a very competitive industry.